She knew Daniel and Lucy were watching a street performer two doors down, Lucy acting as guardian for their youngest member, protecting him from nimble fingers in the crowd while he watched the show. Her experience with living at street level in Europe was coming in handy. She said she didn’t mind watching Daniel as she was feeling a little worn out from this morning.
Rachel told her that Lucy had been with Ben all night and they’d had sex. Apparently Tina had instructed Lucy not to divulge details so there was no juicy information forthcoming.
Sophia sighed in frustration and worry and her sister looked over at her.
“What?”
“Now that Ben’s going to be a father I don’t know how that’s going to change his behavior. He may not be willing to ‘share’ so our plan to get him into bed may be over. Worse, he might not want to be with Mom anymore and that’s going to hurt her as she really loves him.” She banged out a quick text to her mother asking her to let them know how it went at the clinic and how Ben was treating her now that Tina was having his child.
Sophia tried to push that aside and enjoy shopping but the worry for her mother wouldn’t leave her mind. She told her sister she was going out to see how Lucy and Daniel were doing.
She found them easily enough. Daniel was still watching the show and Lucy was keeping her eye on him while avoiding the paws of the two creeps who were not taking no for an answer. She named them Skinny and Beard. Neither looked like they belonged in this neighborhood… or France for that matter. Considering the kind of shopper that frequented this area they probably preyed on the tourists. She got closer and saw Lucy calmly telling the skinny one ‘No’ one more time as she deflected his wandering hands.
“Hey! Shit for brains! She’s saying FUCK OFF but in a polite way.” Sophia growled loudly. Skinny turned to face her and pulled out a switch blade.
“Fuck you, American Cunt!”
That’s when Megan kicked him in the balls from behind. Sophia watched Skinny’s eyes roll back and he collapsed to the ground dropping his knife in the process. Two policemen arrived and disarmed Beard before he could advance on Megan with his own knife. They said nothing to the ladies as they zip tied Skinny and Beard, collected the weapons and dragged the thugs away.
“I like the service of these policemen in France. Scoop up the bad guys and cart them away! No fuss!” Megan grinned at Sophia.
Her older sister was frowning. “That was a little odd though. They didn’t even ask us for a statement.” She turned to Lucy. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine. You didn’t need to do that. They would have gotten bored eventually and left.” she said quietly.
Sophia looked at Lucy and realized she was probably right. It just pissed her off to see these punks trying to get away with that bad behavior.
“And miss the opportunity to nail that misogynistic bastard in his marbles? Not a chance!” Megan grinned at Lucy.
“Nice timing by the way.” Sophia said to Megan.
“I told you, born under a lucky star.” she said and bowed. “Are you done shopping? If so, can I take Lucy with me? She needs new clothes!”
“Sure, I’ll wait for Mom.” Sophia said and took over watching Daniel who wandered back to her.
“You know, Lucy was right. She had the situation under control. She’s lived here long enough to know how to deal with the locals.” The young man looked up at Sophia who looked at him and nodded. He was much more mature than he looked.
“Yeah, I know but don’t you think there should be less tolerance for that bad behavior?”
“Yes, but you can’t force good behavior on people. That kind of change needs to come from inside.” he replied.
Sophia’s eyebrows went up as she contemplated his words. He glanced past her and his eyes lit up. “Is that a Chocolate shop?” he said pointing. She looked and smiled. Yes, it was. “Let’s go!”
Gabriella, Catherine and Ben were making their way to the rest of their group in a taxi. It had taken a concerted effort by all three women to get Ben to leave Tina alone in her room. All she wanted to do was sleep for a few hours so she would feel rested enough to have dinner with them when they got back. Now that she knew what was making her feel like this, she relaxed.
Tina didn’t want Ben sitting in the dark while she slept. She had a cell phone to call them if she needed them and she could call the front desk for anything else. So out he went!
Ben sat between the two women in the taxi and held their hands. His mind was spinning. Gabriella smiled at Catherine across Ben’s chest and she returned it. Ben was like a boy on Christmas morning. Full of anticipation and fidgeting. He lifted their hands to his mouth and caressed their knuckles with his lips.
“Ben! Stop that!” Gabriella gasped as sparks shot through her body. She heard Cat moan from her own pleasure. Gabriella’s face flushed and he leaned over and took her mouth with his. She melted under his passionate kiss and when he pulled back she was breathless and her heart was racing.
Ben turned to Cat and she leaned up to meet his lips. They tasted each other and slowly pulled back.
When he’d gathered his wits back he spoke. “I want you both to know my feelings for you haven’t changed…” He paused as he reflected on that. “No, that’s not true. They feel stronger than before. It actually feels like my life has gotten sharper, brighter, more focused. The last time I felt this good was that first day I was… with you… both.” He glanced at the driver but he didn’t appear to be paying attention.
Gabriella and Catherine were all smiles as they felt his love for them practically radiating from him. They leaned their heads on his shoulders and he kissed the top of their heads.
The taxi pulled off the main drag and pulled up to the curb in a quaint little street. Ben paid and they got out to find their family. Cat pulled out her phone to send a text and saw Sophia had sent one to her earlier. She read the message and teared up. She loved her daughter so much!
She sent a text to her saying they’d arrived and were looking for the kids.
Moments later she received one saying they were all sitting in a little sidewalk café five shops down from the beginning of the shopping area. Catherine looked down the lane and thought she saw the place so she tugged on Ben’s hand and he pulled Gabriella until they were standing before their families. The ladies were surrounded by shopping bags.
“Wow! You’ve really been successful already and this is just the side street. The main shopping area is two blocks away.” Gabriella said. All of their faces registered shock. They thought this was it.
Gabriella and Catherine started to laugh and their kids started laughing too. “Ah, you really had us there for a moment!” Megan chuckled which just made the mothers laugh harder. “What?”
“I wasn’t kidding.” Gabriella managed to get out as they saw their expressions freeze again.